190 Years
A Dallas anesthesiologist was sentenced Wednesday to 190 years in prison for injecting a nerve-blocking agent and other drugs into bags of intravenous fluid at a surgical center where he worked, leading to the death of a coworker and causing cardiac emergencies for several patients.
The emergencies began 2 days after Raynaldo Rivera Ortiz Jr., MD, was notified of a disciplinary inquiry into an incident during which he allegedly "deviated from the standard of care" during an anesthesia procedureopens in a new tab or window when a patient experienced a medical emergency.
Ortiz, who had a history of disciplinary actions against him, complained to other physicians that the center was trying to "crucify" him.
Court documents show that Ortiz, who was arrested in September 2022 and convicted in Aprilopens in a new tab or window, waived his appearance at sentencing in federal court.